The Midnight Zone
by Mewmewmewtwo
Summary: If madness had a depth, I'd be sinking into the midnight zone. It's such a pity that Love and Despair walk hand in hand, such an odd couple... Drosselmeyer and Edel, based off another fanfic I can't recall the name for... T beacuse I'm not giving children nightmares.


I don't own Princess Tutu, if I did then Ahiru wouldn't be a duck, and Fakir WOULD HAVE CONFESSED HIS LOVE AND KISSED HER BECAUSE WE All KNOW HE WANTED TO!

Anyways… My little take on how Drosselmeyer discovered his powers… and the story is absolute crap.

Drosselmeyer smiled as his girlfriend walked into his house, pushing aside the clutter of quills, paper, and books off of his desk to sit down. "Edel!" He smiled at her.

She smiled back. "This year's writing contest will begin soon. Are you sure you don't want to participate? If you can write as good a story as the ones you tell, then you will win with ease."

Drosselmeyer considered it for a moment. "Fine. But only because you wanted me to, Edel."

He set to work writing one of her favorites, a story in which a beautiful princess (Edel) is forced to undergo tragedy and betrayal before finding her place as the beloved wife of a prince. He poured all of his heart out into the story, making it his most beautiful tale yet.

But alas, he hadn't realized the price of his gift at telling stories, and Edel was soon sick with a terrible disease straight from his story. Without the cure, she soon passed away, despite his best efforts to save her.

Drosselmeyer won the contest, but he had lost Edel. Stricken with grief, he devoted himself to trying to bring her back, and he began to put everything he had into her story, the story of his beautiful love. As he wrote, his powers grew stronger and stronger, until he was able to bend reality.

On one of the rare occasions when he was willing to go out, he noticed a couple his age sitting together, happy and in love. He smiled to himself. "Soon, Edel. Soon you will come back to me, and we can be like them." He cut his walk short to write again.

He wrote about her one last time, and as her form began to appear in front of him, he held his arms out. "Edel!"

She gave him a blank look. "And you are…"

Drosselmeyer's face fell. His Edel didn't remember him anymore. He tried everything to get her memories back, but she died from unknown causes soon, all without ever returning his love.

His mind began to drown in grief, because when your heart breaks, it tries to mend, but sometimes the pieces grow back twisted.

"If I can't get a happy ending, no one should!" He set to work writing tragedies that made you feel like you had lost something important, and for a while the people loved his stories. He was hailed as a gifted writer, and many copies of his stories were printed.

But of course, they hadn't counted on the stories becoming real. Betrayal and death soon became a common sight, and people were dropping dead everywhere, from causes unknown.

A dark cloud had been cast over the once peaceful town, and all hands, paws, and claws were pointed at the only one who hadn't been affected.

Drosselmeyer. As he wrote with careless abandon, people died and others fell into a state of misery. "Isn't this fun, Edel? I never realized that causing despair could be so enjoyable." Wide, crazed eyes stared into the mirror.

"Drosselmeyer!" He turned to see his long lost love hovering behind him, made purely from mist.

"Edel!" He reached out to her, but she pulled back.

"Oh Drosselmeyer, what have you become?" Her eyes were full of sadness. "Where did the man I love go? Please stop, you're only hurting yourself more."

"I did this all for you, Edel! Begone!" With sad eyes, she disappeared once more, leaving him alone in his madness.

The angry townspeople came, like villagers out to kill Frankenstein. They barged into his house in the middle of the night, and chopped his hands off just as he finished a story written in red.

"It's too late!" He cried with glee, blood still spurting from the stump of his hands. "I will continue writing stories until the end!" He laughed, and the people fled from the wild eyed writer. He smiled at his finished story. "At last, I, Drosselmeyer, am king of this town!"

He died soon, died from infection and lack of food and water. The people sighed, and the dark cloud began to lift from the town. Everything would be alright; they finally had control over their own fates.

Or did they? Deep within a world of gears, Drosselmeyer watched with glee as his story continued to move, the gears focused on a boy, a raven, a girl, a prince, and a duck. "The story is moving along quite well, isn't it, Edel? This will be a delightful tale, full of despair and betrayal."

The puppet made in her likeness answered in a light, but dead tone. "Yes. The story is moving along wonderfully."

The last shred of humanity in his heart cried when he heard the dead tone in which she talked. Edel… She had once had the same cheery attitude as the little yellow duck who would be such a useful pawn.

"I… I don't understand. I had such a wonderful finale planned, how did they manage to ruin it?" He growled to Uzura, who regarded him with wide eyes.

"I don't know, Drosselmeyer zura." She continued beating her little drum to the pace of their walking.

Little had Drosselmeyer known, there was one last forgotten chapter written for the Prince and the Raven, one where Princess Tutu didn't disappear, the knight didn't die, and the Raven was forever vanquished by the prince, who lived happily with his princess.

Most important, the last chapter was about the rebuilding of their lives, of rising from the ashes. After all, in the last chapter, a long lost princess was born from the flames of her past. The past was named Edel, and the princess was Hope. The real tragedy of the story however, was that Hope had never lived and had been replaced by her close sister, Despair.


End file.
